Ilan Abu-Sayd Muhammad was born in TN 1890, among the junkyards and the Gear duels of Khayr ad-Din. He has only vague ideas of who his parents might be. In many parts of Khayr ad-Din, children are raised by the community or fend for themselves, and are taught what they need to know by whomever has the skills or whomever will take a child in as an apprentice. There is very little sense of family in the City of Trash. Ilan slept in a half-dozen beds in any given year growing up, spending time with the people he was learning from.

What he showed an interest in early, predictably, were the Gear duels and competitions that are a part of the life at Khayr ad-Din. Like the "airport brats" of the early 20th century on Earth, who traded their time as gophers and errand-runners for the promise of eventual flying lessons, Ilan became a junkyard kid. At first, this involved driving "part carts" around the junkyard looking for specific parts needed for repairs. Then later, as he learned how the repairs were done, Ilan himself performed many of the repairs requested of him by the duelers. Soon, he had earned a reputation around KAD: if Ilan said he could find a needed part, he found it. If he fixed something, it stayed fixed. He found he had a natural touch with machinery.

He also found, to his own surprise, that he had both an affinity and a talent for piloting the Gears and the other vehicles used in the duels himself. Ilan turned to trading repairs following the duels for training in how to fight in them. The finest duelists in KAD were soon only too happy to teach him in exchange for his repair services. Ilan learned quickly and well; his natural agility and perception made him a natural. His only drawback at that time was his scrawniness. Growing up a junkyard kid in KAD, with its lack of resources, was not conducive to one's athletic abilities. He was able to avoid the predators that were a normal part of the junkyard environment -- he developed a laser-precise throwing skill against them, in fact. This was fortunate, because he certainly couldn't outrun them!

Ilan was well on his way to a pleasant and exciting life. However, the War of the Alliance intervened. When the Earth forces invading Terra Nova threatened Khayr ad-Din, several groups in KAD created militias to defend the area against them. The duelists were natural choices for these militias, and Ilan was recruited as a driver and pilot. Often, he served as a tank driver when tanks could be put into service. At other times, he piloted hoppers pressed into service as troop transports. He also refined his Gear dueling skills by occasionally piloting them against the Earth forces, particularly their hovertanks, for which he developed a grudging respect.

But Ilan was not a natural military man. Seeing his friends and colleagues die in skirmishes against the Earth forces slowly drained his enthusiasm and disillusioned him. He turned to religion for comfort. Jerusalemism itself found its birth in the destruction of much of Earth's middle east in the nuclear wars of the 21st century. In much the same way, Ilan turned to this faith as a response to the destruction all around him. Ilan appears to the casual observer to be fatalistic, but in reality, he imagines the worst as a way of warding it off. His faith in his religion is quite genuine, and he sees the spiritual aspect in even routine phenomenon.

The war ended when Ilan was 27 cycles old, and he returned to Khayr ad-Din and resumed his previous life. His military experience made him an even more effective gladiator, and he became a minor celebrity in the KAD duels. However, he turned primarily to teaching new duelists and repairing their vehicles and Gears, only occasionally entering the field himself, usually in response to challenges or when he needed surplus funds. Throughout this period, his faith in his religion only grew. He also retains a dislike for what he terms Earther imperialism (and to an extent, imperialism of any type), not so secretly blaming the Earth forces for the deaths of many of his friends and colleagues.

During the recent Interpolar War (TN 1939), Ilan accepted recruitment into the Khayr ad-Din Army (KADA). While serving in this capacity, Ilan's unit was primarily involved in combat against the New Human Republic, and its leader, the Jan-class GREL Colonel Proust. Ilan's age and experience did much to calm and steady the often much younger members of his unit. In addition, he spent much of his time teaching what he knew and assisting with maintenance. When the Interpolar ended, he returned to Khayr ad-Din, if possible, even more disgusted at the futility of war and conquest.

Ilan is not a rich man, but he is reasonably well-off. His field repair and construction services are often in demand from top duelers, and from time to time, he does continue to duel himself. In addition, he is a gifted scavenger and rarely has difficulty finding parts worth selling. Ilan maintains a small homestead just outside of Khayr ad-Din, in the western Heaps. He also has a relationship with the Heretics street gang in KAD: he trades his knowledge of Gears and the duels in exchange for their assistance in defending his homestead. Ilan would be wealthier, but he also has both expensive tastes and expensive defensive needs. As a result, money goes out just as fast as it comes in.

Ilan keeps a portion of his tools and equipment at the Black Talons base near Baja. In addition, he also keeps a pair of Danson DX-66s there, which he calls Imp and Mother. He essentially regards these two little robots as companions, helpers, and pets, and they are rarely far from him. Ilan anthropomorphizes these two little robots outrageously. Whether it is true or not, he believes that Imp sometimes steals or hides tools, and he's convinced that Mother likes to care for things and people. Ilan also has a love for "cool toys" and is constantly tinkering with the team's equipment or trying to invent small pieces of technology for his Black Talons unit to take on missions.

Ilan is now 50 cycles old (36 Earth years) and has never married -- few bother to get close enough to him to learn that his apparent fatalism is more front than reality. However, when the Black Talons began recruiting in KAD for personnel to follow up on Earth's invasion of Terra Nova, Ilan found a need in himself that he didn't fully realize was there: the need to learn why Earth felt the need to invade... why they felt the need to create the GRELs to ravage among the stars... Ilan, now nicknamed "Junkman" by his teammates in the 5th Black Talons based on his upbringing, has earned the respect of many of the Black Talons, both for his ability to keep the team's equipment running and his driving and piloting skills.